SO Handsome!

He's good with numbers; not so much with common figures of speech

Eli:  "Last time I went to sleep, I counted 76 sheep!"
Micah, confused:  "HOW did you count the sheep?"
Kedron:  "He probably counted them in his head."
Eli:  "No, I didn't count in my head.  Things came out of my mouth."

"My ear talks when I talk." - Eli, after getting some water in his ear

From My 3 Year Old. . .

Eli:  "Mrs (preschool teacher) says we should pray every time we eat."
Me:  "Yes, we should. Do you pray before you have your snack at preschool?"
Eli:  "Yes.  Some kids peek their eyes but I don't."
Me:  "But. . . how do you know the other kids are peeking if your eyes are closed?"
Eli, shrugging:  "I'm just curious about what others are doing."

Fun with Pirate Eye Patches

Umm, Micah, this isn't quite right. . .

Wearing them as earmuffs?  Very creative!!

Great; you got your brother in on the act too.

If only covering their mouths kept them quiet. . . 

Ahh - there are my two cutie pirates!!

Happy Halloween, Mateys!!

Arrrrgh!!  Here are our 2 pirates before they began their plunder.

Cool hooks, huh?  Yeah, they lasted about a block and a half before both boys got tired of them.

For those of you who don't trick-or-treat in Central Iowa (which is not called "trick or treat night" but rather Beggar's Night), you must tell a joke to get candy.  Micah's joke:

Q:  What is a pirate's favorite thing to play with?

A:  Maaaarrrrrrrbles!

(pay no attention to the layer of jammies covering his knees underneath. . . bad photo taking, Mommy. . .)

Eli's Joke:

Q:  What do you call a pirate who skips class?

A:  Captain Hooky!

(he can't say his R's / arrrrrrr's yet, so that eliminated 90% of pirate jokes)

What do the Bardwell boys do with their loot?  Why, sort and organize it by candy type, of course!!

Check out the loot these mateys plundered!!  Arrrr!

Simpson Pirates??

We went to Simpson's kids' tailgate activities this morning.  As always, my boys have pirates on the brain!  Eli chose to have his face painted like a pirate.  I'd think he was scary if he wasn't so darn cute. ..

Micah, of course, didn't want his face painted, but asked the balloon artist to make him a "Captain Hook."  I was worried that the guy wouldn't be able to do it, but he surprised all of us with this super cool hook arm!!  We'll see how long this lasts before it pops.

Halloween Sneek Peek

Guess what the boys are going to be this year?

A most fortunate "accident"

I walk in the living room to find Micah crouched in tight space between a chair and an end table, not saying a word.  When I walk over to him, I see that he's playing Angry Birds.  He tells me, "I'm accidentally playing iPad."

Farewell, Elmo Socks

After a year and a half, I think Eli needs to break up with his favorite socks.

Distinguishing himself from his older brother

Guess what Eli came home with today??

Me:  Good for you, Eli!  You were a star singer today!  Did everyone in your class get this award?
Eli (speaking while beaming):  Almost everybody, but Mrs. Scott could only choose one person, and she chose ME!!

Congratulations, Eli!  Public singing is always one area where you will excel over your brother.  Keep it up!!

A belated photo from where we went a few weeks ago

Yet Another Installment of Then and Now

Apparently I'm kind of addicted to comparing photos from those taken a year ago!

The boys and I traveled (with Nana and Papa) to Kale's FIRST birthday party this weekend!  Here are all the male Govig grandchildren:  Kale (1), Kyler (4), Micah (5), and Eli (3).

Wondering what they looked like a year ago?

Eli's FIRST First Day of School!

The youngest Bardwell had his first day of formalized education today!!  As I expected, Eli was pretty mellow about it.  I walked he and Micah to school; he seemed neither excited nor scared about the day.  Here's our big 3 year old in his first-ever 'first day of school' picture.

3 boys in 3 days:  Eli started school today; Kedron started on Tuesday, and Micah started yesterday.

Eli did NOT want his pic taken in front of the school (much to his scrapbooking mom's dismay), but he went right in, hung up his backpack, found his seat, and then wanted me to leave.  So I did!!

There were obviously very anxious parents there, dropping off their 3 year old babies for the first time; lingering by the door; finding a reason to go back inside; etc.  How did I handle it?  Let's see. . . at pick up time, one mom commented that she went home and cried for 45 minutes.  I, on the other hand, went home and jumped up and down for 45 minutes!!  After that, though. . . honestly. . . I realized that I was a little bit bored.  This will be an adjustment for everyone. . .

Micah's FIRST day of school: Then and Now

Here's Micah last year, as he started 4 year-old preschool:

And here he is today as he starts Pre-K!

Micah had a good day at school.  He got to be 'line leader' which he was very excited about.  He knows several of the kids in his class from last year, so that was nice too!  

Stay tuned:  someone else has his first day of preschool . . . tomorrow!!

Last Day of Summer

With Micah starting Pre-K tomorrow and Eli starting in the 3 year old room on Thursday, this is symbolically our last day of summer!  Ask me if I'm sad about that.  The answer is NO.   We decided to celebrate our last summer day with a trip to the zoo!  Here's Micah in front of our favorites:  Lucas and Sassy, the river otters.

Another zoo fave:  the train ride.  EVERY visit = a train ride.

This is the point in our day where Micah decided he'd stick out his tongue for every pic for the rest of the day.  Here I am with my two favorite blondes!!

Another Bardwell boy favorite - the "shake shake bridge". . . 

We had not been to the zoo since March, so the tunnel/window looky area in the big monkey cage was new to us.  We had done a LOT of walking by this point, and the boys were getting crabby, but this new addition perked them right up.

Can you see the monkey outside the window?

We also got to see the Sea Lion show for the first time.  It was good - would have been better if there had been some shade to stand in.

Afterwards, it was off to lunch at McDonalds with the playplace.  Notice Micah's tongue . . . again.  ..

What a nice final summer morning with my boys!!

Happy Birthday, Micah!!

Out with Thomas (his cake of choice for birthdays #3 and #4) and IN with a cool Hot Wheels cake!

Our camera was on a funny setting the entire party.  I didn't get a lot of good shots - here's our best family shot.  Why is Eli never looking at the camera??

Here's Micah and one of his beloved babysitters, Andrea.

ARrrgggghhh!  Now he can really pretend to be Captain Hook. . .

Friend Bryson trying out Screwball Scramble.

Micah and his very best gal pal, Vivi.  He was a little disappointed that he didn't get to "play fairy games with Vivi" during his party; but other than that, he had lots of fun.

Papa and Nana G with their eldest grandson.  Happy 5th Birthday, Micah!!

The Saga Continues. . .

I'm not sure anyone is actually reading this blog any more, but for those who are hanging in there, you will probably remember the saga of several kitchen items that were lost during our move to Yellow House.

Last night, I was craving very unhealthy Tempura, so we got out deep fryer out of the cupboard.  Imagine my surprise when I popped off the lid and found the Pampered Chef egg slicer, melon baller, and 2 meat thermometers that have been "missing" for almost two years, tucked away nicely inside our fryer!  I guess we should have fried food more often!!

So this leads me to believe that our missing plates and potato peeler are still somewhere in this house.  Anyone want to try to find them for me?

Rachel's Random Olympic Thoughts

1.  Bob Costas has not aged in like 30 years.
2.  Do we really need the shot put, the discus, AND the javelin?  If so, could we combine them into a "throwing things triathlon" and call it good?
3.  I am probably the only person who didn't know that "My Country 'Tis of Thee" is a rip off of England's national anthem.

4.  On behalf of women everywhere, THANK YOU to whomever decided that male swimmers can't wear the suits that cover their torso.  Thank you.
5.  Watching sprinters' faces in slow motion at the end of the race is really not attractive.
6.  I'm probably the first person to say this out loud, but I'm totally disinterested in Michael Phelps.

7.  If "being a bad loser" was an Olympic event, the gold medal would definitely go to the Russians.

8.  WHY is everything in diving so tiny?  Divers, if your butt crack is showing, it's time to go up a trunk size.  And can someone please give them a proper sized towel, rather than a wash cloth, when they exit the pool?

9.  If I could be guaranteed the body of an Olympic track athlete, I'd start running tomorrow.  Probably.
10.  Parents, here's a 2 word reminder of why it's so important to think through what you're naming your child, since their name could be repeated over and over at the Olympics some day:  Destinee Hooker.

11.  I can handle quite a bit of cheesy-ness in athletics (ice dancing, anyone?), but synchronized swimming is too much for even me.

12.  Sport I was most surprised to see at the Olympics:  Women's BMX biking.??.

13.  Olympics, I've really loved you these past 2 weeks, but my body is not equipped to stay up late every night.  I need to go to bed at a reasonable hour again.  Yes, I know I'm aging faster than Bob Costas, apparently. . .

What you are missing in Indianola this week

A sweet conversation after a bad day

At bedtime, with Micah:

Me:  Micah, you disobeyed a lot today.  We need you to be a better boy tomorrow.

(We went through several examples of how he disobeyed, because he seemed to have forgotten, but I'll spare you those.)

Me:  But you know what?  I love you, even when you disobey.  I love you all the time.
Micah:  Like God!
Me:  Yes, like God!  God loves you even when you disobey.  He doesn't like it when you disobey, but He still loves you.
Micah:  You're just like God!
Me:  I wish!  I'm not perfect like God at all.
Micah:  But you're perfect for loving me all the time.

What an honor it is to be a parent.

Late, late Colorado pics

Yep, we went to Colorado like 3 weeks ago and I've been slacking about posting the pics.  Ked's mom recently moved to Castle Rock, so it was fun visiting Nana in a new state in her new house!  One of the highlights was climbing up to the Castle Rock rock.  Or the "Castle Wock Wock" as Eli says.

Here are our 2 troopers, excited for their hike!

Guess who our best hiker was?  ELI!  He was often out in front of the rest of the gang.  I don't think he was carried at all on the way up.  We've totally got a future mountain climber on our hands (Uncle Karlton, get ready!!).

Here are Eli, Micah, and Nana at the top (well, not the TOP top, but as high as a 4 and 3 year old should go).

We celebrated July 4th not with fireworks (due to a statewide ban/forest fires), but with free tickets to an outdoor concert!  Ked's brother's girlfriend Yvonne scored us tickets to see. . . wait for it. . . the B52's!  Here is Ked, his brother Karlton, sister Keri, and Keri's husband Scott at the concert.

Me and Yvonne (Karlton's girlfriend). Thanks for the tickets sister; we loved the show!!

I was a little surprised (weirded out?) by how many B52 tunes that my husband knew.  They put on a great show and the weather was perfect.

Love shack baby!!!